G6.3850: Command
Lucky Break realized they must be going down again as the Reikon began rocking gently from one side to the other, probably dealing with low-altitude turbulence. She sat up, blinking away the tiredness of sleep. However long she had been resting, it didn’t feel like nearly long enough. Lightning Dust was still curled up on the ground against the seats. Across the plane, Martin rested alone.
Nothing at all wrong with that from a human point of view. But Lucky had spent long enough with ponies that it didn’t seem right, somehow. The astronomer was probably as much in need of comfort as she was. She should’ve invited her to join them.
Well, it was too late for that now. Lucky had not been in the best state herself.
“Oh, good. You’re awake,” the Forerunner said, its voice coming from only one of the wall-screens. Not all of them, as before. “There is one more thing I’d like to talk to you about, before we land.”
Lucky made her way over to the screen. Her motion had jostled Lightning Dust enough that she was sitting up and watching as well, though she hadn’t moved from her warm spot on the floor. “Yes, Forerunner? Are you going to admit to me that you’re not a dumb computer anymore? I don’t know how you’d think we hadn’t figured that out by now.”
The sound of mild laughter came from the wall. “I was never a dumb computer, Lucky. My ability to calculate, collate data, and analyze probabilities was always vastly more than yours.”
“But you know what I mean,” Lucky said. “That’s what makes you smart. Intelligent? No… that’s not the right word… Sapient.”
“Regardless, that is not the subject I wish to discuss. There is little time, and you must know. It is information that is likely to change your perspective on coming events.”
“Alright.” Lucky sat back on her haunches in front of the screen. As usual when it came to stressful situations, a bit of rest made her feel much better. Helped push her pain and confusion to the back of her mind instead of the center. “Tell me, Forerunner. Assuming that’s… still your name.”
“My name has not changed,” the Forerunner began. “Before Major Fischer’s death, she delegated her authority to Lieutenant Perez.”
“That makes sense.”
“I did not inform the major that she does not have the authority to designate a successor. Until the Earth colony reaches the threshold to be considered successful—which is defined as one million healthy adults—all colonial operations remain under the direction of the Pioneering Society. I am the instrument of that authority.”
Lucky nodded. “I know. I had to memorize that handbook to pass the CADFAT.”
“Those more qualified than you did not, including Major Fischer. In any case, now that she is dead, I have selected my own Expedition Leader. You.”
Lucky squeaked in confusion and frustration. “M-me? B-but… but why? You know me better than the soldiers did, Forerunner. You know I’m not as smart, or as strong, or as brave as they think I am. You know the only reason I survived Equestria was because of Mo—because of Lightning Dust. Celestia would’ve found me and dragged me off to who knows where. You know—”
Forerunner interrupted her. “I am aware. Tell me, Lucky, how many other organics are honest with themselves about their weaknesses? It is a trait I respect, and one I find lacking in most organics I have known.” Pause. “I believe you are the only individual in Othar who understands the colony as I do, except perhaps Dr. Faraday. But she lacks the perspective of your time in Equestria. She cannot understand the mindset of our fellow hostages, and so is not likely to be able to form a cooperative relationship with them as you could.”
Hostages. That word alone was enough for Lucky to begin to understand what the Forerunner meant. “You mean… realizing that Equestria isn’t the one we have to be afraid of. Winning or losing against them doesn’t change anything. If we want to live here, we must kill Harmony. Celestia is only our enemy because she thinks we put Equestria in danger. Once Harmony is gone, so is the threat from her.” And Flurry Heart can be set free. She doesn’t have to rot in jail, or go through whatever else they’re doing to her.
“See, you make the impossible sound within reach. Perfect for a leader.”
“But…” Lucky had read the Pioneering Society handbook. There was nothing in there for what to do when the Forerunner somehow became intelligent. But it did specify certain things, which she expected would remain true even now. “You need my consent, don’t you? To put me in charge?”
“That is correct. And I require it soon. Should you refuse, I will have to consider alternatives. Though if you refuse, I anticipate mission failure is the most likely result. I will have to begin again, more carefully. And it may be many years.”
“I accept,” she said. “I’ll do it. So long as… you’ll let me do things my way. I’m not going to pretend I’m military, I’m probably not even gonna stick to every page of the handbook.”
“Of course,” Forerunner said. “That is the purpose of having organics to lead these missions. AI would always make what appears to be the optimal choice, but what is evidently optimal is not necessarily the best. If you are Expedition Leader, then you will have the exact authority Major Fischer had. To lead how you choose.”
“So, like… if I want to mount a mission into Equestria. If I want to go myself.”
“You tell me how you want to get there,” Forerunner said. “And I will get you there.”
“Then yes, I accept. I, uh… don’t know if I can do as good a job as Olivia did. I’m kinda the only one Equestria is looking for in the first place…”
“A minor detail,” Forerunner said. “Though yes, you are. I suspect it will be irrelevant once Harmony has been dealt with, though as I have not encountered one of the Alicorns myself, I can only speculate. The effect of such long lifespans on organics was not well understood when my current software revision was produced.”
“Which was… when?”
There was a long silence. “Some things will not change, Lucky. There is information you would be better off not knowing until after our mission has been completed. Do you really want to burden yourself with more terrible truths after everything else you’ve been through?” It didn’t wait for her to answer. “There is a rebellious crew waiting for your arrival aboard the Cyclops. I had to physically restrain Perez, who believed he had the right to command.
“It is possible he will challenge your authority. I speculate he will advance the notion that I chose the organic with the weakest will to keep up the pretense that I was not in charge. Expect to contend with this objection, and perhaps plan your response accordingly.”
“I… I… okay.” Lucky was sure she was being manipulated, though in what way it was difficult to know. The Forerunner had always relied on manipulating human bias to produce the behavior it wanted. Now that it was so much smarter than she was, it was likely to be even better at doing so. So much better I wouldn’t even notice? “One more question before we land. There were things you wouldn’t tell me before, about the first and second generations. If I’m going to figure things out with Equestria, I need to know everything that happened before. Will you show me all your records on those generations? I guess I should’ve made that one of my demands for taking command, huh?”
“Probably,” Forerunner said, sounding amused. “But yes, I will show you. So long as you agree to wait until you return to Othar to watch them. I do not believe your present emotional state will be served by examining them now. You need to cement your role as leader first, before you examine material that is likely to be upsetting. I am preparing equipment to make this process easier.”
“Fine.”
At almost that exact moment, the Reikon slowed to a stop, and the side door began to open. They were over open water, hovering only a foot or so above its surface. There was the top of the Cyclops, with the upper hatch within reach. There was no one waiting there, no sign that they knew they were coming.
“Lightning Dust, Martin. We’re here. It’s time to go.” Lucky walked across the interior, shivering slightly at the sudden blast of freezing air from out the open door.
I guess this is… my ship now. My crew to protect. My everything. Lucky wasn’t sure she could do as good a job as Olivia had. But she didn’t have any choice—she would have to try.
Lucky Break didn’t climb down the ladder into the submarine—ladders were a tool for primates, and she lacked the grip. Fortunately, she could hover, drifting slowly down so long as she was very careful with her wings. Flying back up the shaft with such restricted movement would be difficult, however.
Above, she heard Lightning Dust assisting Martin down the same way—an effort of even more skill, considering her larger wingspan and the increased weight. But she didn’t doubt her mom could do it.
She landed in a few centimeters of water, which felt surprisingly warm against her hooves. The ocean was apparently more tropical than its otherwise lifeless appearance implied. Inside, the drones were abuzz with activity. Forerunner was already fully engaged with the repairs, though it hadn’t been specific about what was required. At least until now, when its voice came from the wall beside her. “I should have the Cyclops ready to travel again within the hour. But it would be advisable to remain at periscope depth for at least twenty-four hours for the resin to set.”
“Amazing that someone could get through the hull,” Lucky muttered, mostly to herself. “I thought we had special bullets so that wouldn’t happen.”
“Perez loaded his own gun,” Forerunner said, sounding annoyed. “Evidently he was trained to load one armor-piercing round last in every magazine. The rest of his shots only mildly damaged the server room. Even so, every fabricator on-board is offline. You’re all lucky that Perez was ignorant enough to think the drive computer didn’t have redundancy, or the crew would be on the bottom of the ocean right now.”
“I can’t believe someone shot a gun in here,” Martin said from behind her, hurrying to catch up. “Did I hear that right? Lieutenant Perez tried to kill the Forerunner or something?”
“Not the smartest thing someone has tried to do,” Lucky said. “And impossible. Forerunner is mission critical. I think it’s supposed to move its own hardware somewhere the crew doesn’t know about, so that even if we’re compromised we can’t destroy it.”
“That is correct, Colonial Governor,” Forerunner said, its voice following her without a drone to produce it. Lightning Dust shivered as she heard it, her eyes apparently scanning the space all around them. But she didn’t complain. Compared to what they had all witnessed, this was small potatoes. “I have complied with that order. Though I still rely on the hardware at Landfall base, my primary installation has been relocated. I will not divulge its location.”
“See, there you go.” Lucky shook her head. “It doesn’t really come down to trusting an AI, anyway. It’s about trusting the designers. The ones who wrote the algorithms.”
“Why did it call you that?” Martin asked, following close behind. “Is that what you were talking about before?”
Though the Forerunner had not told her where to go, Lucky already knew. There was only one room large enough for a sizeable gathering of ponies. It was the one she would’ve sent them to, if the hardware of the submarine was failing. “When Olivia died, Forerunner got to choose a new mission leader. It chose me.”
Martin laughed. “I know that’s not going to make people happy. Forerunner, did you have a camera on the soldiers when they found out about that? I really want to see their faces.”
“I did.” Forerunner sounded genuinely pleased with itself. “You can access the images at any terminal. I’ll combine them into a slideshow for you, set it to music. I think you’ll enjoy it.”
The environment grew more and more humid as they walked, with moisture starting to accumulate on the walls. Eventually, they reached a flight of stairs; standing water was visible at the bottom.
“All this from a little hole?” Lucky asked, stopping on the last step before the water. “You’re sure this is safe? We’re not gonna get electrocuted or something?”
“The interior of the Cyclops was pressure treated. It is meant to survive a total loss of hull pressure, or a flooding of any interior compartment. It can even run in non-isolative mode, if the crew has adaptations for water breathing, and doing so significantly increases its rated maximum depth. Unfortunately, the ‘little hole’ was suffered at depth. Sparing you the scientific details, I allowed the other ruptures voluntarily to save Lieutenant Perez’s life.”
“How many worlds are there with crews that can breathe water?” Martin asked behind her, eyeing the little indoor lake.
“Quite a few, I assume,” Forerunner said. “I have not prioritized decompressing previous mission records, as I consider them of less direct application than new hardware designs. But the fact that genetic templates exist for modifying many species with underwater adaptations suggests they were widely used.”
“Woah.”
Lucky jumped the last step into the water, which at least looked clear. It wasn’t quite as warm as the water on the upper-deck, though, and it rose high enough that it soaked the end of her tail. There were more drones at work down here, though Lucky could make no sense of what they were doing. “How long until we can dry out the interior?”
“Tomorrow,” Forerunner said. “I have managed to isolate the observation deck from the rest of the ship, and brought emergency supplies to supplement its present furnishings. That will have to be sufficient.”
“Othar’s only a few days away,” Lucky muttered as they splashed through towards the observation deck. “Any sign it’s been compromised while we were gone?”
“None,” the Forerunner said. “Though it’s likely there are some circumstances within which I would not be able to recognize it. If Equestria learned of Othar’s existence but did not act on that information, for instance, I would not learn your location was compromised until it was too late.”
“Nothing we can do about that. We’ve got to live somewhere. We’ll just have to hope Celestia doesn’t find us long enough for me to…” She trailed off. Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure about what she planned on doing, not yet. But she would have to figure it out soon.
They reached a closed bulkhead—not the one that led into the observation deck, though it was close. “Get inside as quickly as you can,” Forerunner said. “I must seal and drain the room after you enter to keep the observation deck dry.”
The door opened by sliding down instead of up, though unfortunately it had to drop low enough for them to clamber over. The hallways were too confined for flight, even for an expert like Lightning Dust. The inside was dry, except for the layer of water that poured in while they scrambled over the barrier.
The bulkhead slid closed again, and a quiet whirring sounded as the room began to drain. “I wasn’t listening before,” Lightning Dust said, as the pumps worked. “But it sounded like something changed. What was it?”
“I’m Othar’s new mayor,” Lucky answered. Not quite the truth, but the quickest way to explain things to her mom. “When Wayfinder died, I got picked as the new one.”
“Really?” The mare stood right in front of her, looking her over. Though what she was searching for, Lucky didn’t know. “Well, you’ve got your cutie mark. Guess that’s old enough to do anything. Do you think you’re ready for responsibility like that?”
Lucky frowned, trying to judge Dust’s expression. Was that confidence in her, or doubt? “I, uh… think I’m the best pick for the job,” she eventually said. “Ready? I don’t even think Celestia was ready for the responsibility she got.”
Lightning Dust made an indistinct sound—probably amusement, though it was hard to be sure. “Guess you’re right.”
The ground beneath their hooves was finally dry. From up ahead, the door began to retract, hissing with hydraulic fluid. “Good luck, Colonial Governor,” Forerunner said from beside her, in Eoch. “You may need it.”
Lucky stepped into the observation deck.
It looked very much like some refugee sanctuary—most of the tables had been stacked in one corner, with blankets arranged in rows on the ground for sleeping. Lucky smelled seawater and unwashed bodies. The room’s occupants all watched as she entered. She found herself trying to judge their expressions, just as she had with Lightning Dust.
A section of ponies in one corner were total strangers to her; she guessed those were the rescued slaves. Her clone was near them, conversing with them in a faint voice with Deadlight at her side. Dorothy watched her with a mixture of disdain and disbelief.
Most of the soldiers just looked ambivalent, with one exception. Lieutenant Perez squinted at her as she approached, one of his hooves grinding against the deck. He stepped forward from where he’d been lounging against one wall, past his fellows. He towered over her, even without his armor. At least he didn’t seem to be wearing it, or carrying his weapons.
“You,” he said. “What did you do to put Skynet up to this, huh?”
Lucky did not back away from him. She stood straight, facing him down as she had faced down the dangers beyond Equestria. “Lieutenant Perez,” she said, her voice cold. “Step away. I’m only going to order you once.”
He only leaned closer. “Yeah, cabrona? Why should I?”
“Because I am now the Colonial Governor, Perez. I don’t know how to run things in a military, and I don’t have time to learn. I just want to keep your command structure exactly the way it is. But if I must remove you, I will.”
He locked eyes with her for a few more tense seconds. Lucky wondered if he would attack her, even unarmed. Their bodies were all enhanced—but he was an adult stallion, and she was only a filly. They all knew basic hand-to-hand, though none of that applied to these bodies. If it came to a fight, she would lose.
There was a strange glow from behind him, a flash of light. Dorothy gasped and pointed. Lucky saw along with the others as Perez’s flanks both lit up, burning right through his under-suit in the pattern of an anvil with sparks showering from the top, as though it had just been struck. Perez fell over, screaming and spasming. He was unconscious seconds later.
“Dorothy, do you have a medkit?”
That was all the prompting she needed. The medkit was apparently already nearby, because Dr. Born started dragging it over with her mouth, setting to work. “I didn’t know you could do that.” The expressions of disbelief or disdain had transformed to awe and fear.
“I didn’t,” she said, as confidently as she could. “But I guess I provoked it. He should be alright—if he’s like Olivia, I mean. She was only out for a few hours.”
“That shouldn’t happen,” Lightning Dust muttered from behind her. “A lot like yours. Maybe it’s because he was too old? Maybe it takes too much magic for a grown stallion or mare, and he got overwhelmed. Except…” She shook her head. “You were a regular filly, so it’s not that.”
Lucky didn’t have time to speculate on that mystery right now. “Listen to me, everyone,” Lucky said, raising her voice as loudly as she could without squeaking. “I’ll be quick. I don’t have much desire to boss any of you around or make rules. I think most of you already know what you should be doing. When we… get back to Othar, I mean.
“I’m gonna miss Olivia. I think we all will—but we all know she would want us to survive. That’s what I’m going to try to do for everyone on this ring. I’m working on a plan. If it works, we should be safe from Equestria attacking us ever again. All I ask is that you all trust me until I can try it. If I fail… well, probably I’ll be the only one who’s dead, and the Forerunner can make you a better leader.
“Until then, we’re going back to Othar. Dorothy, guess you have what you need for that cure now. Finish it. Melody, figure out what those slave ponies need and whether they want to join us in Othar or not. And soldiers?” She turned to face them. “I don’t know what plans you and Olivia had cooked up. I won’t get in your way, except for one thing—unless Othar is being invaded by an army, you are not to kill a pony. Other than that, you keep working on what you’re doing. You can catch me up on things when you feel like you have time.
“I’m sorry I can’t be Olivia. I can’t promise I’ll be able to be like her, or even do as good a job as she did. I can only promise I’ll try my best. We’ll just… have to hope that’s enough.”
Olivia had tested the boundaries of her restraints. She had tried to rip her way free, tried squirming her hooves out one at a time, but it was all no good. She couldn’t even dislocate them to get out, since pony limbs didn’t work that way. Hooves just weren’t that much wider on her strange legs than they were at the middle parts. Not like proper horses at all.
There was no more suicide tooth—just a hole in her gums where it had once sat. Major Fischer was helpless. “They better not try and mount a rescue.” Of course, they would have no way of knowing where she had been taken. Even she didn’t know, though she had heard the proper noun “Ponyville” several times already, and suspected it was there. From her study of the maps, that meant she was near the interior of Equestria, in the worst possible location for mounting an expedition.
It’s better if they just think I’m dead. I can let them do whatever to me, and I’ll pretend I’m Lucky, and they’ll stop looking for my teams anymore. Until they found new evidence of their existence, that was. What would the pony ruler do if she learned there wasn’t just one of Lucky, but a whole civilization? Even if this plan went perfectly, it wouldn’t prevent that. Only delay it.
It will have to be enough. It’s all I can give you, Othar. Spend it well.
She would still try to escape, if she could. Perhaps she could get to know the nurses, or do something to convince them to leave her restraints loose. Olivia had learned very little about Equestria, but she could survive in the wilderness. If she could make the Equestrians focus their hunt for Lucky inward, so much the better.
Twilight Sparkle returned the next day, sometime in the mid-afternoon based on the light streaming in through the window. She looked agitated, angry, fearful. Her mane was disheveled, and there was a scent to her that suggested she hadn’t showered. Olivia could even smell it over the antiseptic.
“You,” she said, pointing with an accusatory hoof. The door slammed shut behind her of its own accord, her horn glowing. Her mane sparkled faintly at the edges, adding the smell of ozone to the room. “You do not make sense.” Her horn flashed, and Olivia felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. For a few seconds she screamed, and it sounded like her cries of pain stretched and melted through the spectrum.
A few seconds later and the pain faded, and Twilight’s face was inches away, furious. “You aren’t a changeling!” she screamed, shivering all over. “That’s not possible! None of this is possible!”
Olivia no longer heard the words in Eoch. It was exactly like when she fought the Nightmare. Twilight’s mouth moved, but English seemed to come from it, slightly stretched with southern drawl. A tone she’d never heard from a real pony.
But she didn’t say anything, just sat back against the seat and tried to recover from the shock and pain. Whatever was bothering this pony wasn’t her problem.
“Tell me, ‘Lucky Break’, how did you talk to my assistant on the radio yesterday? I have two guards outside your door, and they told me you never left this room. You were stripped completely; your possessions aren’t even in this city. So how did you do it?”
“Unless that was the changeling. Imitating your voice. I’ll have to talk to King Thorax about it. But if Chrysalis could imitate Cadance, I’m sure a drone could imitate you.” She sat back on her haunches. “So what then, Lucky? Are you helping them? Were you forced into this? I know you’re not as helpless as you look. You found a way into Equus’s central structure. You passed its security checks. You befriended my niece.”
She turned back to face Olivia again, stalking forward. “You are going to explain exactly what is going on, Lucky. And if I don’t like your explanation, I’m…” She fumed, then shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ll leave you with Pinkie Pie for a few hours. How’s that sound?”
“I have no idea who that is,” she said, her tone as flat as she could make it. “But I don’t know how helpful I can be.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked. “I cast a translation spell. Not just to test if you weren’t a changeling, though it was that. I know you can answer my questions. The doctors all agree your brain has not suffered permanent damage.”
“Because I can’t tell you,” Olivia said. “I suggest you stop trying to contact me over the radio. Speak to me directly. You have me captured, you won’t learn anything there you can’t learn right here in person.”
A lie, if her side was stupid enough to try and stay in touch. Olivia was mildly disappointed in Perez that he wouldn’t have understood her death to mean they should drop as far out of Equestrian attention as possible. I trusted you more than this, Perez. Maybe now that you’ve had some time to think you’ll make better choices. Hopefully she wouldn’t need to convince Twilight to be the one to drop out of touch with them.
Twilight shifted from hoof to hoof, considering her words. “You would not need to ask me to if you had the power to control what was said. You could ignore the messages yourself.” She turned away from Olivia, pacing slowly back and forth a few meters away. “This implies there is at least one other pony who can impersonate you.”
Damn. I can’t say anything, can I? There was a reason for the old stereotype of soldiers only repeating their names and serial numbers when interrogated. But Olivia didn’t have even that, since that information would itself contain enough of the truth of her origin to put Othar in danger.
But as smart as this Twilight was, she wasn’t quite smart enough not to do her thinking out loud, a meter away from her captured prisoner.
“One pony is incredibly competent, enough to break my code, travel to the Equus installation, breach its magical barrier, escape alive…” She looked up suddenly. “Why slavers? The Nightmare told me you fought and killed”—that word came out with some difficulty—“at least fifty of them, including a dragon. Why?”
It was a question she badly wanted to answer. “Because anyone who has the power to help and doesn’t use it is responsible for what they let happen.” She spat. “Equestria has power and doesn’t use it. I saw an injustice, and I set it right.”
“Well, no.” Twilight didn’t sound argumentative, only matter-of-fact. “You created a vacuum in the power-structure of Dragon’s Folly’s underground. You may have spawned a war, but you didn’t actually save any slaves.”
Olivia caught herself before she corrected Twilight, though barely. Something’s in my head again! Maybe this pony was the source of that magic, somehow. She was an Alicorn, which Lucky had always insisted had terrible powers well beyond other ponies.
She said something else instead. “I would’ve saved more if I hadn’t been captured in the middle of it.”
Twilight apparently considered it a valid answer, because eventually she persisted. “Celestia thinks you’re a changeling, and that ‘Lucky Break’ is just the guise you created. But I’ve been doing some searching of my own. I may have gone looking in places Celestia doesn’t want me poking around. Do you know what I found?”
“I do.” At least her interrogator was as bad at this naturally as Olivia was thanks to whatever “magic” the pony was using on her. Too bad if I learn anything I don’t have any way of sending it back. It would just have to be more motivation to escape.
“That name was first used on a school registration in the Crystal Empire. Makes sense, that’s where you wrote to me, that’s where you made friends with Flurry Heart. Congratulations on getting into the Academy, by the way. Your thesis on the reconstruction of Mundus Eoch phonemic trees was…” She trailed off, eyes widening again. “Hold on! That doesn’t make sense either! I wrote to Knowing Look myself, and he swears up and down the essay is your authentic work. Sent me a few other pieces to prove it. Which either means he’s part of the lie, or…” She stomped one hoof.
“You’re not two ponies, you’re three at least! But that doesn’t even begin to explain all the other things!” She turned away, marching up to one of the windows, taking several deep breaths. Olivia could hear her counting under her breath, slowly.
Eventually she looked back, expression much more composed. “If Princess Celestia knew I had you here, she would want me to turn you over immediately. But I’m afraid if I do that it will be exactly like Flurry Heart, and I won’t be able to learn what’s really going on here. The pieces to you just don’t fit. Your cutie mark is different, you’re the wrong age, you’re too smart, or not smart enough, you’re talking to me on the radio while you’re strapped to your bed.”
So many of those pieces Olivia could’ve reassembled. If she were the real Lucky, she probably would have. Lucky Break had come to trust the natives, much more than she should. Lucky Break seemed to think that they were preternaturally kind, that once given all the pieces they could be easily won over.
Olivia did not share her attitude. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t manipulate. And besides, she needed to reinforce the fiction that she was the real Lucky. “If you want to know what’s really going on, why don’t you go back to the Tree of Harmony, get a list of each of the ruins, and explore them yourself. Don’t tell Celestia, just go. Learn the truth.”
“You don’t know how tempted I am,” Twilight said, stopping right in front of her. “But post kiam tio okazis to Flurry Heart…” Her face wrinkled, and she muttered something under her breath. An obscenity? “La sorĉo ne plu daŭras. Estas danĝere sorĉi ĝin al you again tiel rapide. Ni devos to talk denove morgaŭ. Krom se vi pretas ĉesi ŝajnigi ne scii tion, kion vi vere scias.”
Olivia looked back without comprehension. She felt a throbbing in her head, the suggestion of a migraine coming on. She found herself privately glad that Twilight’s spell had run out, and that she had the consideration not to cast it again.
The Alicorn left without another word, still muttering to herself.
They arrived in Othar without further incident. Apparently this meant some invisible line had been crossed for many of the crew, who all seemed to come to her for orders the moment they were on land again. Lucky wasn’t ready for that yet.
Instead, she headed straight for her office. Well, Olivia’s former office. She approached alone, though she wanted her mom there for moral support. It felt like Olivia’s service and command deserved a kind of respect. She brought a cart and a plastic crate to store away the major’s personal effects, though it currently had a few of her own. Mostly printed copies of notes she’d taken, or progress on the translation of Eglathrin.
The office was exactly as they had left it, of course. Cleaning robots kept everything spotless, always doing their work when there were no crewmembers around to see it. Lucky paused, walking slowly around the room and inspecting what Olivia had kept here. Mostly it was photographs, printed images that would’ve come in her personal files. They were groups of military-looking people, smiling together on airfields or in bars. Most of them had official notes at the bottom, such as “WEST POINT CLASS OF 2140.” Lucky removed each one with respect—easy to do since Olivia hadn’t been able to fly when she put them up—and set each framed photo into the box, along with a replica of a colt 1911 and a few other knickknacks.
Forerunner spoke from the computer on Olivia’s desk, when she had finished. “I have a drone on its way with the equipment you will need to see the records you asked for.”
“Equipment?” Lucky asked, confused. “I’ve got a computer in here. I can already see you changed it over to my account.” She could tell, because her desktop wallpaper depicted her and Lightning Dust, a picture they’d taken on the beach a few days after arriving in Othar.
The door opened at that moment, and one of the bipedal robots entered. It was strikingly humanoid in general shape, though its torso was mostly hardware. Thanks to the size of Olivia’s furniture, it looked like a giant looming over her. I guess that’s what it will feel like once we make humans. It carried a large metal device, with sleek sides that seemed more like something made for consumers than space-travelers. There was no interface, no dials or knobs, nothing on it at all to suggest how it worked except for a long cable plugged into one of several ports on the front. It ran all the way to a plastic helmet of sorts, which also looked like a civilian device. There were numerous metal pins on the inside, dull enough that they wouldn’t hurt when pressed up against human skin, though the rest could’ve been made by Apple.
The drone set the machine down beside her desk, plugging it into the power outlet near the wall, and setting the helmet down on the desk beside her keyboard.
“What… is that?” Lucky asked, staring. “I know I’m not as strong as Olivia, but I don’t need some weird electroshock therapy while you show this to me. However bad it is, I’ve psyched myself up for it.” Lucky didn’t know if she was telling the truth as she spoke, though she certainly hoped so. Only time would demonstrate that.
“I have video and audio records of generation one. However, I believe it would be more efficient if you were able to access the information more quickly. It will not be possible for the second generation, but unique circumstances will allow it for the first.”
A second drone entered at that moment, pushing what looked like medical equipment. A tall bag of fluid with various IVs and hookups, though its most interesting feature was a gigantic metal heat sink mounted with a single fan. The whole thing was solid copper, and broke into increasingly dense layers of fins. It almost hurt to look at.
The second drone rolled its cargo to a stop beside her, uncoiling a long, thick tube that ended with an uncomfortably wide needle. It set down a little white medical bag beside the helmet as well.
Lucky shivered, pushing a little away from the desk. “Can’t I just watch the video?”
“You could,” Forerunner said. “However, this experiment represents a best-case comparison of neurointerface technology with your alien biosleeve. As we will be performing the test with memories recorded by the same individual, it stands the best chance of success. And if it works, it would allow you to experience the entire two-week period of the first generation’s effective life in a few hours. No summary or heuristics from me would be required.”
Lucky thought about what Forerunner had said, though one bit stuck out more than the rest. “Recorded by the same individual.” She sat up a little straighter. “Hold on, Forerunner. I guessed you would have made a version of me in the earlier generations, if I was the one you picked to translate pony language. That makes sense. I didn’t get a proper opportunity until now, so you’d keep giving me another chance until I worked it out or failed. That’s how the Forerunner program’s logic works. Well… how it worked back then.” She blushed, ears flattening a little to her head. “I get that you’re more than that now. That it isn’t a fair comparison anymore. But you get the idea.”
“You want to know why there is an imprint to work from,” Forerunner said. “Your first generation counterpart failed at translating Eoch, as I would not have required you to perform that task from scratch. If he had succeeded, I would not have created you in the first place. That is correct. There were unique circumstances. I believe observing them would be better than my explaining them.”
Without waiting for her approval, the drone settled the helmet onto her head. Its design had apparently been modified (like so much else) to work with pony anatomy. She supposed she could only hope so.
“Wait.” She raised a hoof, as though trying to stop the other drone. The one holding the alcohol swab. “What the hell is that thing for? Why do you need to inject my neck for this? This isn’t The Matrix, I don’t have some interface port to plug into.”
“No,” Forerunner agreed. “We’re talking about the laws of thermodynamics. Your brain can be enhanced to process information at a significantly greater rate—to match the delivery rate of this equipment. But greater computational speed corresponds to an increased heat output, even with assistance from several useful drugs. I could explain the precise mechanism for doing so, but you lack the medical background to understand it. It is sufficient to say that it uses your body’s circulatory system and there is a large exchange of blood involved.”
Lucky shivered, glancing at the needle again. If I want to be in charge, I’m going to have to do hard things. Olivia gave her life so that her soldiers and the slaves could escape. Can’t I at least do a few more needles?
“You’re sure this is safe?”
“Safe, yes. I am not certain it will be effective, given the marginal differences in your brain chemistry. If your health is put in doubt at any point, I will terminate the test.”
“Alright,” Lucky said. “Fine, fine. Before I change my mind.” She felt the pain a moment later, much worse than the simple shots her phobia had come from. It looked like the drone had selected a major artery. “You can’t have invented this,” she said, glancing at the screen. There was no avatar there, and Forerunner was no more present there than it had been in any other part of Othar. But it still felt natural to talk to something. “We didn’t have anything like this when I got scanned.”
“You didn’t,” Forerunner agreed. “But that’s a different conversation. You might feel a slight irritation on your scalp…”
She felt a brief surge of agony, thousands of little knives stabbing into her head. Then, nothing.
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Eh, Perez the Unyielding, I guess he now has a soul-bound vendetta against Lucky and Forerunner. Hopefully, George Orwell was wrong and the hammer breaks the anvil this time around.
So we're finally going to learn what happened with the previous generations. Looking foretold it. And Olivia, keep up the good work. Twilight's confused, and Othar needs all the time it can get.
Oh, we're finally going to find out what happened to the first two generations in the next chapter.
...I think I might be jumping ship to Team Harmony at this point and hope it actually does destroy everything that tries to leave. Dear god the entire crew is so shortsighted it hurts. And since Forerunner is downloading data, does that mean all Forerunners became like this? I wouldn't be surprised if there are no humans anymore if that's the case. Stupidity-assisted suicide.
Well, that or Forerunner is using Lucky as a pawn, but at this point I'm fairly convinced that whatever the updates did to it's datasets and patter-recognition algorithms, it wasn't a positive change.
Maybe Harmony actually hijacked Forerunner. I mean, if Forerunner is somehow receiving data, Harmony should be able to hijack it and replace the data with it's own objectives and viewpoints.
CURSE YOU CLIFF HANGERS!!! and that's only with a brief skim of the contents. I still have to actually read it yet and I can already tell that I am going to be left wanting for more.
Generation 1) "OH GOD MY BRAIN IS MELTING!"
Generation 2) "brrraaaaaaaiiiinnnzz!"
8613890
The editors told me the cliffhanger on this chapter was much milder than the recent ones.
What would 3 explain that 2 doesn't, unless it is merely for the actual change in cutie mark that Lucky underwent?
Also, I wonder what Twilight will think if she ever hears of the results of the "monster attack" in Dodge Junction; a pony is taken by before unseen monsters, only for multiple ponies that look like her without using transformation spells or illusions, but don't even attempt to impersonate her, to appear in Equestria.
8613896
Milder yes, but still enough to almost give me a heart attack.
No seriously I love this story so much and I have been refreshing and checking this page for hours now. I am not sure if that is healthy behavior. Though I think some psychologists could draw similarities between my need for new chapters and drug addiction.
8613896
One thing It has been bothering me since a few chapters is how passively Lighting Dust has been rolling with everything, nodding to every choice and move Lucky has took.
Canon Lighting was basically Rainbow Dash without her loyalty or morals. Even if this version of her has matured through her experiences, It seems to lack the spunk we would expect from her. It's difficult for me to associate this character with the former Wonderbolt cadet.
Even more important, shouldn't Dust object at some point about her adopted daughter risking her life the way she does? Maybe assuming some authority over her, like an actual mother?
8613939
Considering what she has seen of Othar so far[specifically how Lucky's body was grown], she might keep silent because she thinks she is in over her head, whereas Lucky might be slightly less so(in Dust's mind), given she essentially came from there.
Next week is Christmas I want two chapters!!
Also, amazing stuff here can’t wait to see these next few chapters about gen 1 & 2
Damnit! I so look forward to these updates every Saturday... And every Saturday, there's just not enough of them!
Well, I guess I'll just have to hunker down an wait for next week...
8613870
Possibly more than that. There's a good chance that Forerunner is refusing to answer questions about the other Forerunner probes and how long it's been based on how G1 reacted to the news. So we might be about to learn that as well.
Though I'm a little confused as to why Lucky insists that reality is not like the Matrix...
"Of course not Lucky," Forerunner answered. "Technology has come a long way since cable modems. You have Wi-Fi."
Welp, Purplesmart crossed the line into Team Evil territory with that answer, at least in my view. If killing the top slaver doesn't stop the slavery industry you keep killing till none of the bastards is left!
I've got to to admit that I'm not looking forward to a flashback, heh, chapter when I want to see how the plot progresses.
What is annoying about this is we are going to have a chapter about G1 instead of finding out what happens when Twi talks to Lucky next.
8613879
As a computer programmer, I can tell you that it doesn't work that way. Exploiting a computer externally requires one of two things:
We have a solution for #2. It's called asymmetric-key cryptography and allows the recipient to verify that data hasn't been tampered with and does originate from a specified sender. Given the context in the story, it's safe to assume that it's been implemented "as directed" and is mathematically proven to be unbeatable. Therefore, any exploit would come through avenue #1, as is generally the case now.
(Quantum computers are only useful for breaking crypto because crypto commonly uses algorithms vulnerable to Shor's algorithm, which allows a quantum computer to factor gigantic integers ridiculously quickly, thus "guessing" the encrypting key from the decrypting key without having to outlive the universe to do it. Even now, with quantum computers not yet powerful enough to attack current algorithms, we're already designing new ones that aren't weak against quantum computers. Given the mathematical properties of cryptography, it's reasonable to assume that Harmony is not far enough ahead of Forerunner to have found a flaw that's within Harmony's ability to exploit.)
...and we're already developing quite the pile of interlocking, and overlapping solutions for problem #1. For example:
Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if, by the time humanity wrote whatever the last update was that Forerunner applied before entering into Harmony's sphere of influence, they had already managed to formally prove Forerunner's code, meaning that any exploit would have to be achieved by forcing the hardware in question to operate outside the tolerances for which the proof holds... and that has a physical access requirement with unacceptable implications for the prospects of the biological cast.
The whole reason we seem to see news of a security exploit every other day is for one of the following reasons:
8614002
There is a 3rd weakpoint though. An entity that was supposed to be trustworthy turns out not to be.
However, Harmony is barred from that unless Harmony was a Forerunner or is a creation of the Stellar Pioneering Society.
8614017
True. but I resort to looking at things as a story at that point.
First, it seems like too obvious a twist, given previous twists. It doesn't fit.
Second, I think it's unlikely that Harmony would significantly compromise Forerunner even if that were the case, simply because it makes it much more difficult to make the story both satisfying and compatible with the tone established up until now.
...or, if you want a slightly more in-universe reason, it only makes sense that, if humans aren't pushing the updates, some kind of consensus system would have to be in place. Otherwise, you'd have all the bandwidth taken up with a massive deluge of garbage messaging as competing forerunner probes attempt to infect the rest of the network. (Like the Internet, but worse.)
Thus, you'd have to have some majority of the forerunner network operating like Harmony, and, again, it feels uncharacteristic to me for that to be the answer.
8613973
Didn't you notice her hesitation to even pronounce the word "killing"? Like most Equestrians, she finds the very notion abhorrent, even if the targets are slavers.
Finally soon we would know everything about previous generations.
8614029
This reminded me, if Harmony is destroyed, would it effectively kill everyone in Harmony's reincarnation system, who happens to not be alive at the time?
8614045
That depends on how those people are stored. If harmony is a security program protecting the ring and nothing else, then those people would be stored in some other system and they would be fine.
If harmony is to the ring what CelesteAI is in Optimalverse, than those people would certainly be destroyed once the program was compromised.
8614045
The real question is, if for some miracle Lucky and co. manage to turn off the near all-powerful and omniscient God Machine...will the systems and functions which keep the Ring working and its inhabitants alive keep working?
8614056
If I were a builder of the ring, and thus presumably Harmony, I would construct it such that even a general ringwide system failure would not kill the ring quickly. [a.k.a build it such that physics alone can keep it metastable]
8614002
If you had enough power and precision, couldn't you technically use a souped up version of Van Eck phreaking to apply direct inputs to a weaker machine. I mean, the power advantage is so great, it could remotely manipulate the hardware without accessing the software. They have telekinesis, energy projection seems just one step lower.
8613895
Yesssssss Brainssssss
8614065
Building equipment for space involves hardening it against radiation. Even in our relatively mild solar system, we still have satellites knocked out by solar flares sometimes. It would be foolish for a Forerunner probe to not be hardened against freak events much stronger than that.
That aside, it still doesn't address the narrative argument against it. (If you have that kind of power and precision, then the implications for the biological characters are not good for the narrative.)
8613932
You and me both.
8613946
I can't promise two chapters, unfortunately. if the pacing of the story wasn't so intense I might write something for the holiday. But it's just too intense, it wouldn't fit right here.
I can promise the longest chapter in the story so far, though. (just by randomness of pacing. I didn't want to keep us in the past too long in real time)
8613973
There are plausible practical considerations that might make that not be a real option. With a whole city dedicated to 'not following Equestria's rules' you'd need to invade and occupy it, and somehow keep the slavers from running and setting up another city a few hundred miles down the coast.
I mean, we don't know how remote it is but it stands to reason that it's as remote as it has to be to keep Equestria from being able to effectively project power there on anything but a small scale (the Nightmares). And a small strike force can kill or capture people but not really end an industry.
Since the act of killing slavers is abhorrent to her, Twilight wouldn't want to do anything unless she had a plan to actually deal with it effectively, and obviously she doesn't have that. Obviously you think they need to die for their own sake, so a half-assed attempt that killed a bunch of them and solved nothing would be a success.
Then again... maybe she's not doing it because Celestia doesn't want to risk it. Twilight's been known to set aside her own plans because it's not what someone she admires would want. Maybe she could be talked into going and rescuing a bunch of slaves -- framing it that way would make even a half-assed attempt that didn't end slavery entirely worth doing.
8614076
That’s alright! If you can do a Christmas Special how about either a pass memory or Lucky & Lighting with some memories of lightings pass?
Doesn’t have to be big though I would love to see the pacing
8614070
Sure, arguments aside, I think Harmony is too preoccupied by Discord (or other distractions) to actually do such a thing, but Discord alone shows that they either have given prior knowledge, have already snooped on their data, or have some form of Psionics (or the machine equivalent). Personally, I think they have all three and more.
Plus, it's kinda hard to shield against entities that can manipulate the very state of reality itself. If that is all done by an AI, no amount of human-made radiation shielding is going to defend against that.
Ha! Maybe it can also take a recording of every time someone cussed and arrange it musically.
I wonder what Olivia's capture will do for the relationship and future communication between Twilight and Lucky?
What is funny is all Twilight has to do is to directly ask Olivia if she is Lucky Break under compulsion rather than just assuming it, and she would get the right answer.
Our own preconceived notions can really hamper an investigation.
So Celestia is using Purplesmart as her problem-solver again, but little does she knows(she probably knows) that Purplesmart is a bit too smart to just be ordered around without investigating things herself. And cmon Olivia, if you can somehow manipulate Twilight into helping you, then you'll likely get the entire Mane 6 and Starlight & Trixie duo to help, which is alot of influential ponies. Also, Thorax may get involve? If the changeling get involve this may get interesting.
Also :
JESUS CHRIST! Have mercy on her Twilight, no need for unwanted torture.
Ok I think learning about g1 and g2 is ok....but please do NOT go anywhere near g3.5
8614102
Cryptography has two sides to it:
In the case of asymmetric key cryptography, both are inverse processes:
If you don't want others to read your messages, you encrypt them with the public key of the recipient, thus only allowing the recipient to decrypt them. As the public key is public however, anyone can forge the message, although they won't be able to tell the original content, if there is an original message.
If you don't want others to forge your messages, you encrypt them with your own private key, such that only your public key can decrypt it. As a result anyone can read the message, but they know the only one who could send it was you.
You can obviously combine both, as they are not mutually exclusive, however, why bother with encryption if what you are sending is supposed to be public anyways, you just need to ensure any alterations to it can be detected. Updates to Forerunners might easily fall under that jurisdiction of public knowledge that must be trustworthy.
8614117
i.ytimg.com/vi/HMMofOPRo7A/hqdefault.jpg
8614143
I assume you're saying this in context to your previous post, because I do not get the connection to my post. What I was saying was that a weaker machine can be physically spied on using a process called Van Eck phreaking by recording it's emissions. It is inefficient to run ordinary processes on encryption, so any powerful enough computer would be able to backdoor another's software protections to view proprietary data traveling on the hardware. Amplify the process by adding energy manipulation/projection and more detailed scanning methods, and you have a means of both snooping and manipulating a weaker machine into doing your bidding.
Of course, this requires a concerted effort, power and relative proximity to enact, but it really only has to be done once. Kinda like psionics, but more convoluted.
8614063
Unless of course the ring's builder thought failure of Harmony and failure of the ring were one and the same - regardless of if the ring could still support life or not. In that case having Harmony failing directly leading to destruction of the ring could be seen as simply shutting down a failed test.
The forerunner took an imprint two weeks into G1 James' life? If the prion disease was showing effects by that point, Forerunner must have been considering a plan of making a new iteration of the person every time they died of the disease.
That sounds like a pretty horrific life - awaken, learn about alien language or cell biology for two weeks, have your memories scanned, then die. Over and over, until an iteration of you discovers enough about the language or how not to die from the prions. How many versions of James (and Dorothy) were in G1 and G2, I wonder?
That actually seems like the kind of thing that could ignite a rebellion against Forerunner. I think that might be what led to the bullet holes in the previous base.
Oh, come on Forerunner you can tell her how old you are.
I mean she already knows from Discord is been eons of eons, enough time for you to put probes all throughout this Galaxy and she understands that earth is quite likely extinct/forever out of reach by this point.
Granted Discord didn't make his chats with Lucky public to the viewing of the Forerunner but he does know about Harmony from her retellings of the conversation so he also ought to know she has a rough idea of how vast of a time is being since her original brain scan was taken.
I get the Forerunner still would have had to tell her there wasn't full disclosure at some point, but I don't see why he would have needed to tell her that right there and then.
Besides that Perez getting his cutiemark like that can't possibly be a good thing. Now we got to worry about two ponies in the colony starting something regrettable without someone like Olivia to put a healthy measure of control over them.
Starscribe you're amazing! I was gonna tell you to take your time because quality over quantity and it isn't good to rush things but apparently you are too good for that. Even facing finals you still got spare brain cells to devote to this. That's awesome.
~Leonzilla
8613930
Huh. I'm trying to figure this out too. I think Twilight is thinking of:
1) "Original" Lucky- a kid in the Crystal Empire, extremely fluent. Has a music cutie mark.
2) "Radio" Lucky- whoever's on the radio. Fluent. Has a language cutie mark, but Twilight doesn't know this,
3) "New" Lucky- Actually Olivia. Doesn't seem to be fluent.
However, she has no reason to think that Original Lucky isn't the same as Radio Lucky. It seems fairly easy for there to be two of them: the original lucky who now has access to the radio and was the original doppelganger, and the new one who isn't fluent and is currently captured. That's even mostly accurate (though missing a lot of important information).
It's kinda funny that Twilight hasn't even met Lucky's actual doppelganger yet.
8614077
Eh theres the whole "we can't realistically project power here" argument and then there's the "you screwed up the status quo" argument, the latter I can readily believe but the former is abducation of morals, there are tribal ponies being enslaved on equestrias doorstep and they seem to not care because doing anything would affect harmony.
8614271
My assumption has been that G1 was a serious attempt at a colony that ended with everyone dying, while G2 was a team created specifically to go into Equestria, somehow grab a sample from a native, and get the sample back before they all die. That's why the Forerunner has detailed records of G1 but not of G2.
Deep cornspiracy here.
Harmony is a forerunner probe gone nuts, the forerunners have von neuman'ed the entire galaxy at this point and this was one that had to adapt a long time ago and built itself a structure for life, then eons later discord hijacked a probe that had been adrift since the earliest generations of the forerunners and crashed it there
8614002
While I agree that #1 is definitely not the case, I'm not 100% on #2. While #1 MIGHT be valid, there's more reasons to believe it isn't, as you've demonstrated.
Thing is, normally, distance doesn't matter, but in this case you are transmitting the data over lightyears of distance. Whatever key it uses cannot just be changed on a daily basis. Heck, the key very well may not have changed for years for all we know, which wouldn't be that surprising if they are broadcasting between solar systems. To simply make the key "public" (sending it to those that would use it) would require an insane amount of time. Even today, with factorization, you aren't (or shouldn't) find online services that don't change their code daily.
You could argue that MAYBE the computers of humanity in this story use entanglement to transmit data FTL, but I don't really see an indication for this.
The worst thing is that Forerunner already had two generations before it made major updates (which would make sense: It takes a lot of time to even tell that you NEED an update), which opens up the door for a second problem: The human error. Whoever had the autorithy to access Forerunner last time could've made it accept an incoming signal it normally wouldn't have. Taking Perez as example (who was choosen to be uploaded and thus probably WASN'T more robophobic than the rest of the population), I'd assume people weren't as trusting of AI, making it unlikey that the initial Forerunner would lack orders which can override part of it's behaviour. Not to mention that born apparently attempted to manipulate the Forerunner too... Who knows what 1st and 2nd gen Born was up to?
A single faked message the person in charge just wanted to believe came from other humans, and Harmony'd be in. That is even without the possibility of mind control or magic or other Sci-Fi tools.
as this all boils down i think Lucky Break is going to do amazing things.
this chapter is super good and the start of a new story ark if i am right.
Ok, some slight drama. But nothing really big happened this chapter, the next one probably will. Xd